The École Maternelle Pajol, in Paris, is about as colorful an education experience as you can get. The four-classroom building was built in the 1940s. Its recent facelift also includes a rainbow interior.

Vietnam's Farming Kindergarten, recently named one of the best new buildings in the world by ArchDaily, features a grass-covered roof with gardens that let students connect with the country's agricultural roots.

Shining Stars Kindergarten, located in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, contains small courtyards to promote the flow of natural light and natural-wood play spaces to make kids feel like they're outside.

Djuhara + Djuhara

Architects: Djuhara + Djuhara

Fuji Kindergarten in Tachikawa, Japan, was built in 2007 as a complete circle. It encourages kids to run around on a rooftop boardwalk, climb nearby trees, fall down, and move freely between doorless rooms.

OA Kindergarten, in the Japanese city of Saitama, is made entirely of earthquake-resistant shipping containers. The result is an industrial-feeling structure that is structurally sound but still gives kids plenty of room to roam outdoors.

In Miyakojima, Japan, the equally spacious Hanazono Kindergarten transitions seamlessly from finished wood to well-manicured lawns through sliding doors. The school was built to resist typhoons and allow for easy ventilation.

Loop Kindergarten, located in Tianjin, China, evokes images of bubbles with its many-windowed exterior. Inside is a large wooden platform for playing as well as a multi-colored atrium.

Sarreguemines Nursery, located in Sarreguemines, France, was designed like a human cell with the nursery in the center as the nucleus. Gardens surround the structure like cytoplasm, and an all-pink interior offers a calming place to play.

Australia's John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School, in Beechboro, took cues from Nordic design with skylights, birch plywood construction, and pops of color. It's inviting to even the most timid toddler.

Thailand's Kensington International Kindergarten, in Bangkok, was built to rouse kids' imaginations. Curved walls swoop around the building so that kids don't feel boxed in by hard lines.

It's only fitting the country responsible for the word kindergarten has a novel design of its own at Kindergarten Wolfartsweier, in Karlsruhe, Germany. The cat-shaped building even comes with a tail that doubles as a slide.

Adriano A.Biondo

Architects: Tomi Ungerer, Ayla-Suzan Yöndel

In Paris, the Nursery School of the Olympiads gives kids a slew of cozy nooks to duck into to play with toys or bask in the sunlight. The exterior is bright pink.